Woman mistakenly arrested and denied bail

On September 12, 2011, a SWAT team busted into a Santa Cruz home and arrested a woman named Haley Wright. The local newspaper the next day noted that Wright was one of 24 people scooped up in a major narcotics sweep. She and the rest were allegedly linked to a Mexican drug cartel.

Santa Cruz County has a reputation for having reasonable pretrial detention policies, but that was not the case here. During Wright's first bail hearing, the judge denied bail. At the next hearing, the judge set the bail "incredibly high". Finally, the judge lowered her bail to $20,000, which her family was able pay. She had been in jail 30 days before being released on bail.

The woman spent another two months of being on supervised release.

Eventually, Wright's attorney was able to examine photos and recordings of "Hallie" from some of the defendants who had been taken into custody. This was the same evidence that was already in police possession.

The attorney then set up a meeting the U.S. attorney and several law enforcement officials. They played the phone conversations and compared Haley's voice, the complaint states. "They viewed multiple photos they had of the real criminal Hallie. They all agreed they had the wrong person, and immediately realized they had to release her. Finally all charges were dismissed.

Seems like the police weren't in any hurry to correct the mistake. Just arrest the suspects, hold them for months in jail, and let the lawyers sort out any mistakes that may have occurred later.